In just a couple of days on June 23rd, Batman: Arkham Knight is scheduled to release. Early reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, indicating that fans of the caped crusader have yet another high quality video game adventure in store for them this Tuesday on PC and new-gen consoles.
That being said, Batman fans should buckle up for a sizable day one patch that will be a required download when they boot up their game for the first time, as Reddit users have discovered that the PS4 version of Batman: Arkham Knight will be rocking a 3.5GB day one patch.
There are four central goals of this day one patch. It will improve stability and performance, a common listing on virtually all patches, as well as add the Rival Points feature into the game. Furthermore, it will lay the groundwork to support future DLC, and add the classic TV series Batman skin. It's worth noting that the latter skin is part of the PS4's set of timed exclusive DLC.
It's possible that this day one patch is also going to be released for the PC and Xbox One versions of the game, but there has yet to be a comment made on behalf of Rocksteady regarding this. Since the PC and Xbox One versions come with less content than the PS4 version, it is possible that this patch may remain an exclusive part of the PS4 release. It's also worth noting that pre-loads are already available for the Xbox One version of Batman: Arkham Knight, whereas pre-loads are not possible for the PS4 version quite yet.
Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately, depending on how one looks at things), day one patches are a norm for games in this day and age, and Batman: Arkham Knight most certainly isn't the first game to have a sizable day one patch by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, another June release, The Elder Scrolls Online, had a 15GB day one patch, making the 3.5GB patch for Arkham Knight seem rather small by comparison.
As for the future DLC mentioned in the patch notes, it was announced about a month ago that Batman: Arkham Knight will have a season pass. After initially being very vague about what will be included in the season pass, Rocksteady responded to fan pressure by announcing its contents. Those that plan on purchasing the season pass will mostly be able to play a number of additional story missions, including missions starring Batgirl.
In addition, it was announced recently that the season pass will also allow players to have access to the retailer exclusive content for the game. This will include the Red Hood missions that are exclusive to GameStop, as well as the Batman Beyond skin exclusive for Steam players.
Batman: Arkham Knight will be available on Tuesday, June 23rd for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.